Latin America News Q3 2018

30 LATIN AMERICA NEWS / Q3 2018 , New Agriculture PlatformMoves into Latin America Innovatus Capital Partners announces two Latin American trade finance deals under newly established agriculture-focused platform. Innovatus Capital Partners, LLC, an independent adviser and portfolio management firm with approximately US$1.6 billion in assets under management, today announced that it has finalized two trade financing agreements with leading companies in the agronomic services and peanut production industries in Latin America. The firm signed two separate US$10 million pre-export financing agreements – the first with Brazil’s Brumau Comercio de Oleos Vegetais Ltda, (“Brumau”), one of the country’s largest peanut processing and export companies, and the second with Agrofertil S.A., one of Paraguay’s leading crop inputs distributors and agronomic services companies. Both transactions are collateralized by inventory. These transactions represent the first two investments from the firm’s trade finance strategy, which is designed to support all aspects of the agricultural export process, providing both upstream and downstream borrowers financing for supplies, processing, storage and distribution of food commodities. Innovatus offers senior-secured financing to agricultural platforms with large footprints and long-term track records of successful crop delivery across global markets, including Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. Offtake agreements are typically negotiated between established buyers and the producer prior to the financing agreement, guaranteeing a market for future production. “Our team has a breadth of pre-export, direct lending experience and a deep network in Latin America, and we are well positioned to capitalize on market inefficiencies and make a positive impact in the agricultural sector across the region,” said David Anderson, Co-Head of the Innovatus Trade Finance team. “We are pleased to announce our first two investments from the firm’s trade finance strategy, and to partner with Brumau and Agrofertil and their exceptional leadership teams to provide reliable capital as they continue to expand their capabilities.” Brumau will leverage the structured trade finance facility to purchase raw peanuts in the current harvest and process them into a number of exportable products, including threshold peanuts, blanched peanuts, peanut oil or meal. “We are excited to further diversify our lending group through this financing from Innovatus,” said Mauricio Martani, General Manager of Brumau. “The Firm has significant expertise working with global food and agricultural businesses, as well as strong relationships with global platform companies. We are very pleased to have their backing and look forward to a long relationship.” Agrofertil will use the capital provided by Innovatus to purchase farming inputs to be sold to local commercial farmers, who will grow soybeans to be delivered to the Borrower upon the 2018/19 harvest. “Innovatus’ strong network and experience in Latin America makes them a welcomed addition to our lender-base,” said Adilson Antonio Junior, Administrative Director of Agrofertil. “We look forward to a long and growing relationship with a firm that has a clear understanding and knowledge of our market.”